School Daze
by randomesque
Summary: AU. Our favourite characters from Advent Children go to school! As if any education system could handle them. R&R please guys, it's my first fic EVER!
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: Hi, guys, this is my first fic! So pleaaasseeee be nice and R & R, so that I know whether you like it or not and what I should improve on! (: I'd really appreciate suggestions/criticism, but if you flame, well, I guess that's your time, not mine. Sorry for any bad English and stuff ):

P.S. I have a few pairings in mind but I can change them so yup, tell me what you think! Here goes~

***

"DAMMIT!"

Reno kicked the locker door, hard, and earned an aching toe for his effort. He hopped around, clutching his fast-swelling right foot and spewing five minutes worth of unprintable obscenities.

"Bloody thing..." he hissed angrily, rummaging frantically in his pockets again. Money, biscuit crumbs, used tissues, a broken comb, fluffy lint. Well, at least there was practically nothing his pockets _didn't _have.

Except his locker key. Now he had to carry a large sack of books around, on his first day at school.

"This couldn't get possibly any worse," he moaned.

"Hey, Reno!" called a girl's voice. It was Yuffie, hurrying towards him with great enthusiasm.

He sighed. "But it just did."

"What's up, Reno?"

"What makes you think there's anything up, yo?" he growled back, deciding to make up for his terrible start by giving everyone else a terrible start as well.

"Your face is as red as your hair."

"Is it?" That was saying something. Probably that he looked like an overripe tomato.

Yuffie, meanwhile, had drawn the connection between Reno's grouchiness and the large dent in the metal door.

"You can share my locker, if you want."

Reno blinked.

"Okay..." He said cautiously, and followed her over to stuff his belongings in with more force than was necessary. Yuffie slammed the door shut and grinned.

That was a bad sign.

"But in return, I get to sit next to you!" She announced cheerily.

Reno spluttered loudly, his toe suddenly beginning to throb again.

"That – wasn't – you –"

"Or I might _forget_ to let you take your stuff back," she smiled sweetly. She grabbed his hand and pulled him along the corridor.

"Come on, today is going to be _awesome_!"

Reno disagreed.

***

A morning person is someone who wakes up with a smile, enjoys the warmth of the sun and the twittering of the birds, and eagerly anticipates the coming day.

A non-morning person is someone who wakes up wishing he hadn't, would like a room without windows and wants to vaporize the tweeting monsters with a flamethrower.

Kadaj was not a morning person.

His first thought was, _where's the coffee_ and his second, _I'm going to bash Yazoo up for leaving the curtains open._

His brothers were sitting at the table when he stumbled in in a daze, groped for the steaming cup and spilt half of it down his shirt. By the time he finished howling in pain, throwing the mug across the room and blowing furiously down his shirt, he was sufficiently awake to notice what he'd just done.

Loz and Yazoo weren't unduly ruffled. They'd seen worse days.

"Um, Kadaj," began Loz. "I know you're... drowsy, but we're going to be late for school."

"To hell with school," Kadaj scowled, and then did a double-take.

"WHAT SCHOOL? I DON'T SCHOOL, LOZ. I DON'T NEED SCHOOL."

"I'm afraid you do," said Yazoo mildly, watching the scene impassively as Kadaj stared at him with bloodshot eyes. He feared his baby brother was suffering from caffeine withdrawal symptoms.

"No. _No._ I can add, I can subtract, I can spell! School. S-K-O-O-L, okay, now can we drop the subject?"

"That was wrong," corrected Loz sternly. "School is spelt S-K-H-U-U-L. Let's go."

***

It was well known that there was some sort of rivalry between the principal and vice-principal of our protagonists' school. For years, Sephiroth had gone without promotion and for years, he had thus sought to overthrow Rufus Shinra as headmaster.

All his plans had failed. Shinra may have been more concerned about his next hair appointment than whether his students were a half-crazed bunch of morons, but that didn't mean he was stupid.

This term, though, was going to be different. No more mister nice guy. No more buying of Cheerios for Shinra in the hopes it would please him. His superior wouldn't even touch them, no matter how strong the cravings were, so that he didn't feel indebted to Sephiroth, and so that he could minimize the risk of being mysteriously poisoned.

Striding down the hall, he noticed a blond student with hair styled in spikes. Rufus would be wanting to know what brand of gel he used.

"Cloud Strife," he said imperiously. "Why aren't you heading to class?"

"I don't know where I'm supposed to go," he mumbled to the floor.

This was Sephiroth's chance to demonstrate his responsibility and care for his pupils. He snatched the timetable and glanced at it.

"You're right outside the room, Cloud, you confused idi – I mean, you poor lost child."

"Oh. Thanks, sir."

And off he trudged, leaving Sephiroth standing there, slightly bemused. That boy had a way of making everyone in his vicinity feel depressed. Like the world was all sadness and dreariness and greyness and...

Sephiroth shook his head to clear it. He couldn't let Cloud's gloomy aura get to him. _Think happy thoughts_, he told himself, and imagined himself at Rufus' hospital bedside, with the other man tendering his own resignation.

Now _that_ felt good.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Thanks, guys! :D For the alerts/reviews. I'M HAPPY :D Umm. Enjoy this chapter! R&R if you can :D Once again, feel free to suggest anything!

***

Rufus Shinra was admiring himself in the mirror. It was a large mirror, floor-to-ceiling, and highly polished, with not so much as a speck of dust on it.

All the better to see himself with.

Satisfied with his appearance, he adjusted his tie and turned away reluctantly. The school was indeed blessed to have such a good looking principal.

"Um... Mr Shinra."

Rufus jumped and almost swore, but then he saw it was Sephiroth, and determinedly clamped his mouth shut. The man would lose no time in _accidentally_ notifying parents that the headmaster used foul language more often than was healthy.

"For goodness' sake, would you knock first! I was in the middle of something important!"

Sephiroth's facial muscles were twitching, as if he were trying to control a smirk.

"I'm sorry, _sir_." Sarcasm oozed thickly from the last syllable. "You have a class on this morning."

"When?" he asked impatiently, feeling for his hair to make sure it was still in place.

"Five minutes ago." Sephiroth paused, then continued smoothly, "You know, sir, punctuality is a highly placed value in our school, and you, well..."

"And I, _vice-principal_, am here to promote that punctuality. Thank you for your faith in me."

He exited abruptly, slamming the door shut. Sephiroth grinned. He had his superior on edge on the first day of school. Just one of his many talents. He glanced around the office with some envy. _He_ didn't have a huge desk. _He _didn't have a mirror. All he had was a room slightly bigger than the janitor's cupboard, so squeezy his beautiful silver tresses had a tendency to get caught in the door.

_Not for long now,_ he thought. _Not for long._

***

The classroom was in disarray. Yuffie was throwing paper airplanes, most of which were doomed to collide with the fan blades. The little white flakes that fluttered down embedded themselves in Cloud's hair, and he sighed resignedly as he reached up to dislodge them with as little damage to his spikes as possible. Reno was slouched in his chair, shirt untucked, glowering at the whiteboard. Vincent was in the corner, trying to distance himself from the noise, but to his dismay, he could only go as far as the back wall. Everyone else – Elena, Tseng, Tifa, Aerith, Zack – was chatting and laughing loudly.

Then Rufus Shinra swept in, and silenced the rowdy bunch with a glare.

"Now, listen carefully," he began, articulating clearly and slowly like he was talking to the three year olds they truly were. "I know all of you are spoilt brats with rich parents, because if not you wouldn't be in this school. And I think you should get it into your heads now that I don't care about spoilt brats or their rich parents, because_ my_ parents are richer than any of yours."

Ah, yes. President Shinra and his little environmentally destructive company.

Rufus flashed a sub-zero smile, which was a terrifying expression to see on his face, and said,

"All right, I do believe I have to fill your empty skulls with some rubbish! Let's start our lesson, shall we?"

He opened the textbook on the table, found an important-looking chapter and was about to instruct his pupils to read when a distraction arrived.

It came in the form of three silver-haired boys crashing through the door. The smallest one looked like he'd been dragged bodily down the corridor. They straightened up, brushed themselves off and seemed perfectly unconcerned that they had interrupted the headmaster's lesson.

Rufus, on his part, disliked them instantly. The big one looked several years too old for this grade. Retained, perhaps, or simply overgrown. The long-haired one was too pretty. If anyone was pretty in this school, it was he, the principal, and not some cross-dressing student. The last one... well, he was just evil with a face.

Then, of course, there was the tiny fact that they all resembled miniature Sephiroths. One creepy guy he could handle. Three was a nightmare come true.

Kadaj stormed right up to Shinra.

"Tell your guards to give me back my souba," he demanded, green eyes narrowed. "Or _else_."

"I believe there's a no weapons policy in this school," replied Rufus unconcernedly. Of course there was, he'd implemented it himself. It had been most effective in bringing down the number of assassination attempts on him. By both the staff and the students.

"I'm sorry, sir," Yazoo coolly interrupted, "It's his security blanket. If you don't return it, he may behave... unstably."

"Unstable" didn't quite justify how Kadaj looked. Rufus decided to play it safe. Besides, he knew how insecure _he _felt being away from his own reflection.

"Okay, okay, I'll speak with them later. Now will you three sit down!"

Loz glanced at the rest of the room. There were two empty chairs near Cloud (just in case depression was contagious), and one adjacent to Reno (just in case sloppiness was contagious as well).

He opened his mouth, but Yazoo beat him to it.

"It's your turn to sit with him, brother," he murmured, with just a hint of smugness. "Don't worry, I survived the car ride."

He dropped into the single seat, ignoring Loz's death glare.

Rufus forced himself to focus. At least his period was half over. Thirty more minutes and he would be deliciously free from the destructive influence of these halfwits. Until 10 o' clock tomorrow.

"Turn to page 142 and read the chapter on syntax. If there are any questions, feel free to raise your hand."

A general murmur of assent followed.

"Oh, and one more thing. Don't raise your hand."

Reno knew there was about as much chance of him getting through that book as there was of him ironing his clothes. Instead, he allowed his gaze to wander, finally settling on the boy next to him.

Rufus hadn't really been being sour grapes when he decided Yazoo was too pretty. Silky hair longer than Tifa's, a pale oval face and a slender build. Even the fingers clutching the textbook were long and manicured. _Yo, if it weren't for the fact that he's a guy..._

Reno stopped, considered carefully, and decided it was better not to go there. He had enough problems without this sort of issue, and he didn't think Yuffie would be able to handle it without first finding a particularly painful means of killing him. If he was lucky.

_I must ask Cloud sometime_, he thought wryly,_ whether banging your head on nearby hard objects really helps to clear the mind._

But he couldn't, because at that moment the bell rang, and Rufus Shinra disappeared in a golden blur, faster than if someone had been about to dye his hair pink.

That would make a new personal record.

***

P.S. In case you're wondering, Reno isn't going to turn out.. in love with Yazoo or something. I don't think I could write yaoi, in any case. My already-bad writing would just. Die. Butbutbut pairings are up to you guys in the end, right? :D That's why you should review!


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